2024-04-17 < Weekly activities > 2024-05-01
Activity summary: Wednesday 2024 Apr 24 to Tuesday 2024 Apr 30
Belmont, Totara Park, Sinclare Head, North Saddle, Te Hekenga, Ruahine Range Zealandia.
Wednesday 24th April
E tramp to Mt Belmont led by Michele Dickson. 6M
In breezy conditions we gathered in Stratton Street, Normandale and ascended Belmont Trig. Bracing into the wind we continued walking to Cannons Head and dropped down middle ridge back to the cars. Mostly sunny with interesting lighting.
EM tramp from Simla Crescent to Totara Park and back, led by Penny Salmon. 11M
A figure of eight trip with a couple of side tracks and plenty of ups and downs. Mostly in the bush with some open skyline routes and a tinsy bit of suburban streets. A beautiful day with a couple of wind gusts on the odd exposed track. Lunch at Totara Park picnic area. 5 hours, 819m of climbing and 12Km of walking.
M tramp from Brooklyn shops to Sinclair Head led by Paul Bruce. 6M
We all enjoyed a 6-hour, 18km walk in mostly sheltered conditions, via the mountain bike/red rocks track, deviating down over the lovely Waipapa Stream and back up to the historic gun battery for lunch, before descending to the south coast. We spotted a deeper water hole on the stream, which might be an ideal cooling off spot on a summer day. Joan’s trace indicated that this route is 1km shorter than via Te Kopahau - however it includes an extra 200 metres down and up. And warning: the south coast is renowned for gusty conditions in the north westerlies, and on this day one of us was swept off our feet!
SF overnight tramp to Waerenga, North Saddle and Point 830 led by David Mcnabb. 5M
We set off from Catchpool on Tuesday evening for a night at Waerenga. An early start on Wednesday saw us heading up the Ōrongorongo River and Matthews Stream, which we followed right up to North Saddle. Steep rough conditions in the stream were rewarded by the great views from the saddle. Breezy conditions meant we did not linger and we continued north up the ridge past Pt 830 and followed a trap line down the next spur to the river and back to Waerenga 7 hours after leaving. We collected our gear and returned to Catchpool.
Multi day tramps
MF tramp to Te Hekenga on the Ruahine Range led by Sarah White. 3M
An excellent double crossing of the Ruahine range via Rangiwahia, Triangle, Iron Gate, Top Gorge, Long View and Howlett huts. Windy and wet weather during the first three days of the trip was balanced by a calm clear day to return to Rangiwahia over Te Hekenga. The first and last days were long hours. The middle two days were shorter but heaps of fun and very satisfying.
Sunday
E tramp inside Zealandia led by Liz Marting. 4M +1NM
We enjoyed the bush and the birds in perfect weather exploring the lesser-known tracks of Zealandia.
Total 35 members and 1 non members missing Kobus’s tramp.